STOP the Rental Registry Law in East Hampton NY

We are taxpayers, homeowners, business owners, visitors, tourists and shoppers;

As residents, parents, retirees, farmers, fisherman, artists and good law-abiding members of the East Hampton community;

We Demand Supervisor Larry Cantwell and the East Hampton Town Board to:

STOP the Rental Registry Law in East Hampton based on 12 urgent reasons:

1. Economic harm will be caused to our local economy, to property owners, and to local businesses.

2. The law opens the door for intrusive home inspections, a violation of our property rights. It provides a flagrant end-run around the U.S. Constitution and the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unwarranted searches.

3. Homeowners will be burdened with paperwork, forms and multiple fees and will face inspections, bed-checks, attorney's fees, fines upwards of $30,000.00 per day and jail time, even if they abide by the law.

4.The collection of personal information is invasive and is available to anyone who asks for it, through the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).

5. The Law will not achieve its legislative intent to address overcrowded year-round rentals and obnoxious seasonal share-houses. There are existing laws that simply need continued and increased enforcement.

6. The Law targets second homeowners who constitute more than half of the homes in East Hampton. The "presumptive evidence" provisions of the Rental Registry Law allow circumstantial evidence to be used by code enforcement to place homeowners in violation of the Rental Registry Law. Many second homeowners will be presumed guilty simply by virtue of having a domicile outside of East Hampton.

7. Vacationing families can be fined up to $15,000.00 through no action or fault of their own. East Hampton is a resort community and placing non-resident vacationing families in the cross-hairs of the Rental Registry Law will cause families to vacation elsewhere.

8. Serious housing problems in East Hampton are mostly due to a minority of unscrupulous landlords. Affordable housing is scarce due to escalating real estate values. A Rental Registry cannot solve these problems.

9. The law offers no support to homeowners who inadvertently rent to bad tenants. In fact, the law allows for homeowners to be fined daily, and risk jail time until their bad tenant issue is resolved.

10. Essential support to our tourism economy is provided by homeowners who offer accommodations to out-of-town visitors. They should not be treated presumptively as criminals.

11.Transient, nightly lodging will dramatically increase in all hamlets under the Rental Registry Law and is permissible under existing laws. This unexpected consequence of the Rental Registry Law will create more turnover and traffic in our neighborhoods.

12. Renting has been a tradition for over 125 years in East Hampton - since the coming of the railroad in the 1800's. Local residents and second homeowners rent their homes to cover expenses, mortgages, college educations, retirement, and to just make ends meet. The Rental Registry Law will add a layer of bureaucracy that discourages all renting which will cause substantial hardship.

We demand Supervisor Larry Cantwell and the East Hampton Town Board to stop the proposed Rental Registry Law, permanently, and that intelligent solutions be sought and implemented that support our tourism based economy, protect our neighborhoods, incomes, quality of life, and uphold the U.S Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

We ask everyone for your support to help Stop The Rental Registry Law.